An Open Letter To Senator Lieberman

by: BranfordBoy

Mon Jan 29, 2007 at 18:22:56 PM EST

Senator Joseph Lieberman
One Constitution Plaza
7th Floor
Hartford, CT 06103

Senator Lieberman,

We, the members of the Connecticut for Lieberman Party, have passed the following goals and resolutions for our party at our meeting held on Thursday, January 18, 2007.

We call for you to:

1. Stop misleading Connecticut voters.

You stated one month before the last election that no one wants to bring the troops home more than Joe Lieberman, and then you called for a robust (at last count 35,000), substantial and sustained troop increase in Iraq.

Please refer to your own Wall Street Journal Op-Ed of November 29, 2005:

"If all goes well, I believe we can have a much smaller American military presence there by the end of 2006 or in 2007, but it is also likely that our presence will need to be significant in Iraq or nearby for years to come."

In your own '10 point plan' unveiled at the Veterans of Foreign Wars post in East Hampton on September 25, 2006 your own Point Six, called for continuing the strategy (instituted more than a year before) of embedding U.S. troops in Iraqi military units as a means of both facilitating the training and effectiveness of the Iraqis and permitting a drawdown of U.S. troop levels in Iraq. Point Six stated that increased embedding "should be done by redeploying existing troops, not adding new troops to the region."
• In your first television ad following the August primary, you stated that you were staying in the race "because I want to help end the war in Iraq."
• An October 11 press release from your campaign described the argument that you were "continuing to back President Bush's stay the course policy" in Iraq as "an out and out lie."
• In an October 16 debate, you claimed, "No one wants to end the war in Iraq more than I do."
• In a November 3 press conference, you stated, "None of us wants more war; certainly not me. ... I want to bring our troops home."
Senator Lieberman, CNN exit polls conducted in Connecticut after the election suggest that the Iraq was were not popular, and finding that 63 percent of voters support some form of withdrawal from Iraq.

2. Support the state's top election official, Secretary of the State Susan Bysiewicz's proposed legislation requiring candidates to tell voters that they will run as an independent if they lose their party's primary.

We request that it be called the  "Lieberman Law," and to prohibit major party candidates from running in the election after they lose a party primary. Our party also favors moving up the deadline for petitioning candidates to one month before the primaries.

If a major party candidate is thinking of petitioning if they lose the primary, and if CT persists in not adopting a law that prevents primary losers from running in the same election, voters, but also donors to candidates political parties investing expertise, donations, and volunteer time deserve to know that up front, fair and square, before they decide to support them.

3. Join the new Connecticut for Lieberman Party, a party you promised the Secretary of State that you would form, but did not join.

4. Lead the fight against President Bush's assault on civil liberties and the U.S. Constitution.

5. Lead the fights against the surveillance of Connecticut citizens by state authorities, because they do not support Connecticut incumbents.

6. Come to a private meeting with the CFL Party, in order to participate in a discussion as to how you have let us down.

7. Follow through on his campaign promise to provide oversight by holding hearings and issuing subpoenas to FEMA and other Homeland Security officials and others with respect to their performance concerning Hurricane Katrina.

Last year, when you were running for re-election in Connecticut, you were a vocal critic of the administration's handling of Katrina. You discussed the failure to turn over key records that could have shed light on internal White House deliberations about the hurricane, including those involving President Bush.

Your latest decision, as the new chairman of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, to back away from the committee's Katrina probe is especially grievous.

We expect to hear from you promptly.

Yours,

John Orman
Connecticut for Lieberman Chair

Jonathan Kantrowitz
Connecticut for Lieberman Vice-Chair

Susan Henshaw
Connecticut for Lieberman Secretary

If some of those names look familiar, it's because Jon Kantrowitz and Susan "Sue" Henshaw are MLN-ers.